Consensys to Tokenize Smart Contract and Blockchain Audits via TURN Token Launch

July 20, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Life after crypto biz: Retrenched staff ponder future in the job market

July 20, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Workers weigh up their futures in the cryptocurrency economy as tough market conditions lead to more staff cuts at prominent firms.

Bleak market prospects continue to afflict the cryptocurrency ecosystem as prominent firms face the tough reality of reducing their workforce to ensure their long-term viability.

Nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea has established itself as an industry leader in its category. Still, its own success has not been enough to weather the potential length of the so-called crypto-winter.

The company announced that it would reduce its employee numbers by 20% in July to ensure the long-term viability of the business. OpenSea co-founder Devin Finzer shared a Slack message sent to the company outlining the reasoning for the retrenchment move on Twitter on July 14:

Today is a hard day for OpenSea, as we’re letting go of ~20% of our team. Here’s the note I shared with our team earlier this morning: pic.twitter.com/E5k6gIegH7
— Devin Finzer (dfinzer.eth) (@dfinzer) July 14, 2022

Finzer promised to give outgoing staff a ‘generous’ severance package and healthcare coverage into 2023, as well as accelerate equity vesting periods for employees eligible.

The co-founder noted that despite having built a strong balance sheet through fundraising and a proven ‘product-market fit,’ OpenSea had to reduce its workforce to ensure a financial runway for a five-year crypto winter scenario.

A handful of OpenSea employees took to social media platforms with posts indicating their severance from the company. One employee was ‘shocked and still processing’ the news while taking a positive attitude:

I was apart of the layoffs.
I’m shocked and still processing tbh.
Can’t take it personal.
Must move forward and keep building.
Thanks @opensea for the opportunity https://t.co/e4WseqeavR
— Allen (@allencito) July 14, 2022

Kristyana Kern, a recruiter working for OpenSea, confirmed her departure from the company in a LinkedIn post that was also shared on Twitter:

“In my short time there, I hired 10 people with 100% offer acceptance, helped build out recruiting operations and really dug into Web3. I worked with incredible people and am so grateful for my time there but am ready for my next adventure."

So sad to share that I was impacted by layoffs at OpenSea. I worked with incredible people and am so grateful for my time there.

That being said - I don’t want this to end my time in Web3 so if anyone is hiring Recruiters please reach out ❤️
— Kristyana (@kristyanakayy) July 14, 2022

Cointelegraph spoke to another former OpenSea employee that admitted being caught off-guard by the announcement. The individual, speaking on condition of anonymity, had been employed in the cryptocurrency industry for around a year and wanted to continue working in the Web3 space.

These posts garnered plenty of interest, with colleagues and acquaintances offering assistance to help place the outgoing OpenSea employees. Some projects like DAO payroll and finance platform Utopia Labs called for engineers to explore new openings at the firm:

If you were affected by the @opensea layoffs we’re hiring @utopialabs_ and would love to chat

We’re working on some deep technical problems at the intersection of compensation, compliance, and coordination for DAOs, and are expanding out our rockstar eng team https://t.co/0ONJM9M8QZ
— imhiringengineers.eth (@pryceandstuff) July 14, 2022

OpenSea becomes the largest NFT-focused company to be forced to cut staff alongside significant firms in other corners of the blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem. June 2022 saw the likes of major exchanges Gemini, Coinbase and Crypto.com announcing retrenchments.

Cryptocurrency, blockchain and Web3 job portal Crypto Jobs List estimates that 3500 jobs were cut by the three major exchanges. At the same time, the service noted a 20% drop in the total volume of companies and jobs being advertised since May.

While other companies streamline their teams, the likes of Binance, Kraken and OKEx are hiring for over 2000 positions collectively. Crypto Jobs List also estimates that another 1000 jobs are set to be created by a plethora of cryptocurrency and nonfungible token (NFT) startups.

Nonetheless the search volume for “remote crypto jobs” been the highest ever in the last 5 years pic.twitter.com/OyAVZVbkho
— Crypto Jobs List — Solidity NFT DeFi Web3 Jobs (@CryptoJobsList) July 7, 2022

Cryptocurrency Jobs, another careers portal platform, also noted an increase in the number of companies requesting human resource assistance. Daniel Adler, the founder of Cryptocurrency Jobs, told Cointelegraph that he'd worked with 40 different companies across the cryptocurrency ecosystem since markets turned sour in 2022:

Some teams have implemented hiring freezes, others are restructuring and looking into their hiring needs for the year, and for some, it's business as usual. For many teams, the bear market is a great time to do meaningful and strategic hires."

Cointelegraph has reached out to a number of individuals affected by staff cuts in the cryptocurrency industry. If you have recently lost your job or have been affected by prevailing market conditions and would like to share your experience/views - send an email to gareth@cointelegraph.com.

New token by ConsenSys enables security audits for the highest bidder

July 19, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Security auditing is set to be tokenized by ConsenSys Diligence as TURN tokens are unveiled — creating an open market for the in-demand service.

ConsenSys is set to tokenize smart contract and security auditing services through the upcoming auction of eight “timeboxed” TURN tokens.

The Ethereum-focused blockchain software company has developed the offering through its smart contract audit service ConsenSys Diligence. TURN, short for Time-Unit Representative NFTs, will create an open marketplace for security auditing services which are in high demand in the burgeoning blockchain and cryptocurrency space.

The firm touts TURN as the first nonfungible token (NFT) purpose-built for smart contract security auditing services in the industry. It essentially tokenizes the labor powering these auditing services and allows the open market to price them appropriately.

TURN tokens are ERC721-compatible and represent 40 hours of auditing time to holders. TURN will be able to be bought and sold on secondary markets from there, allowing new users to dictate the value of these services as and when they need them.

The company’s co-founder Gonçalo Sa told Cointelegraph that the solution was primarily driven by struggles to meet demands for manual code reviews in the Ethereum ecosystem. As a result, companies are looking at a six-month waiting time for an audit of their systems. Scheduling and pricing of audit slots have also been an area calling for innovation ,according to Sa:

“With TURN, we aim to introduce an open marketplace for buyers and sellers of security auditing services and potentially other time bound human services. TURN is designed to be a token representing timeboxed services in general. Nothing about it is tailored to security services per se.”

ConsenSys Diligence will offer eight weeks of services, tokenized in 8 NFTs which consist five working days each. Auctions will start 100,000 DAI ($99,995) and a cut-off date for the NFTs to be redeemed.

ConsenSys is set to tokenize smart contract and security auditing services through the upcoming auction of eight “timeboxed” TURN tokens.

3D NFT marketplace bridges three-dimensional functionality across metaverses

July 19, 2022 Coin Telegraph

3D NFT

A selection of leading artists and creators are set to provide novel creations and assets through the launch of the 3D NFT marketplace MetaMundo.

MetaMundo looks to bring three-dimensional art and assets to some major metaverse environments with the launch of its marketplace and nonfungible token (NFT) architecture.

Users from popular metaverses like Decentraland, Cryptovoxels, The Sandbox and Spatial will be able to collect and own NFT assets like galleries, luxury villas, music venues, parks, avatars, vehicles and other creations directly from 3D artists, architects and designers.

MetaMundo has built an NFT architecture on the Ethereum blockchain, which is specifically designed to power 3D files and Metaverse interoperability. The use of a flexible metadata structure allows multiple 3D files to be incorporated into a single NFT.

NFTs sold on MetaMundo will come with a bundle of 3D files compatible with Metaverse platforms while new 3D files can also be added to a specific NFT. MetaMundo is able to convert and optimize 3D files to create multiple metaverse optimized assets.

Users will be able to preview and interact with the 3D files bundled within each NFT through the MetaMundo marketplace before making a purchase. MetaMundo co-founder Finn Hansen noted that the platform looks to pioneer NFT functionality across different blockchain projects:

“We’re solving the lack of NFT interoperability through a unique architecture we’ve developed, which features a versatile and extensible NFT metadata structure, supporting multiple 3D file versions and offering the flexibility to add additional file versions later to enable future-proofing as 3D technology evolves.”

The company has onboarded a number of 3D creators that have extensive work both in the Metaverse space and real-life art. Netherlands-based NFT artist Dutchtide, American modernist architect Luis Fernandez and Metaverse architect Mila Lolli headline the creators partnered with the marketplace.

MetaMundo's initial 3D NFT releases will feature Dutchtide’s Brutalist-architecture-inspired Japanese Zen Art Gallery and an ocean-side luxury villa created by Fernandez.

ApeCoin price eyes 45% rally following Otherside metaverse demo

July 19, 2022 Coin Telegraph

APE price

APE has been pursuing a rare ascending triangle reversal breakout, with its profit target at $8.40.

ApeCoin (APE) rallied to start the week as traders considered Yuga Labs' decision to open its Otherside metaverse for selected users. In doing so, the token broke out of a technical pattern that hints at another 45% price rally by September 2022.

Otherside metaverse euphoria

APE's price surged by almost 23.5% week-to-date to reach $6.12 a token on July 19.

The weekly gains came as a part of a rally that started on July 16. Interestingly, Yuga Labs invited 4,300 players of its Otherside gaming metaverse for a demo—and the tour of its Bored Ape avatar online platform—on the day of APE's rally.

*APE/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView*

That suggests traders purchased APE after taking cues from the Otherside update, given it serves as a governance token at ApeCoin DAO. This "decentralized autonomous organization," or DAO, powers the ecosystem of apps and services deployed by Yuga Labs and third-party brands, including Otherside.

APE price eyes 45% rally

The Otherside euphoria has also prompted APE to exit a technical setup called the "ascending triangle."

Ascending triangles are typically considered continuation patterns. Nonetheless, in rare instances, ascending triangles form at the end of a downtrend, leading to a strong price reversal

It appears APE's ascending triangle had formed at the end of its downtrend. That is because the token rallied by over 100% after bottoming out locally near $3 on June 15, followed by a break above the triangle's upper trendline near $5.22 on July 18.

*APE/USD daily price chart featuring 'ascending triangle' reversal setup. Source: TradingView*

As a rule of technical analysis, a breakout originating from an ascending triangle pushes the price north by as much as the maximum height between the triangle's upper and lower trendline. That puts APE on the road to $8.40, up about 45% from current price levels.

Conversely, a close below the triangle's upper trendline could trigger the prevailing bearish breakdown setup, with the profit target sitting below $3.50.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Leading Auction House Christie’s Launches Web3 and Fintech Venture Arm

July 19, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Christie’s launches venture fund aimed at Web3 and blockchain investments

July 18, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Art

According to the auction company, its first investment will be in LayerZero Labs, a company developing solutions for enabling omnichain decentralized applications.

Christie's, the auction house known for its sales of art and luxury items, has launched an investment fund to support emerging companies with technology enabling “seamless consumption of art.”

In a Monday announcement, the auction company said the fund, Christie’s Ventures, will financially support firms in Web3, “art related financial products and solutions,” and technology related to art and luxury goods. According to Christie’s, its first investment will be in LayerZero Labs, a company developing solutions for enabling omnichain decentralized applications, allowing a more seamless transfer of assets between blockchains.

“We will focus on products and services which can solve real business challenges, improve client experiences, and expand growth opportunities, both across the art market directly and for interactions with it,” said Christie’s Ventures global head Devang Thakkar.

Christie’s is launching its own in-house investing firm, Christie’s Ventures. The entity will aim to supply seed funding to young companies whose technologies could ultimately help collectors buy and sell more art, digital or otherwise. https://t.co/rzGlaVRAfM
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) July 18, 2022

The move into blockchain-related investments represented another step for Christie’s to support ventures in the crypto space. In 2021, the company hosted an auction for a piece of nonfungible artwork from Mike Winkelmann, also known as Beeple, raising more than $69 million. Since then, it has held several high-profile sales for NFT artwork and partnered with the OpenSea online marketplace for on-chain auctions.

2022 is shaping up to be a record year for blockchain-related venture funding. As Cointelegraph reported, blockchain- and crypto-focused firms raised $14.8 billion in the first quarter of the year, nearly half of 2021's totals. Although activity has waned due to the bear market, startups with a focus on Web3 and the Metaverse continue to attract significant capital.

NFT